The desorption of oil and other industrial lubricants from absorbent materials such as pads or "socks" is a prevalent industrial process. As a result, the current art contains a variety of different methods by which oil is either removed from an oil absorber or process after recovery for recycle of the oil or the materials are cleaned for reuse.
The steps that are used to separate and recover oil from oil-absorbing materials for recycle must be chosen so that the desired results: maximum recycling and minimum waste generation are achieved. This type of optimization inevitably results in a process that is specific to a particular waste stream; that is, it will be dictated by the oil absorber and the composition of absorbed fluids and entrained solids.
Therefore, there remains a need for an oil recovery process that is simple, effective and that allows the recovery of the oil as well as the recycling of the oil-absorbing material.